Reawakening
Page 28
Jirell—A merchant who travelled in Sethan Lattimar’s caravan. Together with her brother Hireth, she designed and sold instruments. She was among those who travelled south with Tarnamell in 1024.
Jorunn—A country to the east of Shara.
Killan—General of Tarnamell’s armies in the Dragon Wars. Chroniclers at the time recorded rumors that Killan was also Tarnamell’s lover.
Klio—A warmaid of the Court of Shells.
Latai—The language spoken in Tiallat.
Lorchan—Killan’s lover, in the years after Tarnamell slept.
Lyson—Hireth’s lover, a musician.
Myrtilis—Battle Queen of the warmaids of Ema, and part of Tarnamell’s hoard. Although Myrtilis was grievously wounded during the final battle of the Dragon Wars, rumors persisted of her survival. Her followers established her cult, naming themselves the Daughters of Myrtilis and establishing an order of female scholar-warriors that persists to this day. The Daughters of Myrtilis believed she still lived in the Court of Shells, in the heart of the Alagard Desert, and was responsible for training many of their greatest heroes of the last millennium.
Namik Shan—The husband of Suheyla, a famed Tiallatai beauty and physician popularly known as the Nightingale of Taila. Namik was regarded as the greatest poet of Tiallat during the time of the last shah. After Suheyla’s death, he fled the country with his young sons and sought asylum with the Selar in the Alagard Desert. He traveled into Tiallat with the Dragon King Tarnamell in 1024.
Nol Salath—An island in the Eastern Ocean, notable for its active volcano.
Omay Ferihazad—A merchant from Tiallat who often traded with Sethan Lattimar. Omay’s connections to the Tiallatai resistance are never clearly established in the records of the time, but it seems likely he was a sympathizer, if not more.
Raif Suheylazad—A member of the Tiallatai Resistance, Raif grew up in exile with the Selar. He is the son of Suheyla, the Nightingale of Taila, and her poet, Namik Shan. Raif traveled into Tiallat with the Dragon King Tarnamell in 1024.
Rasha, River—Rising in the Amel Mountains, the Rasha runs south through the towns of Rashamel and Hirah, before falling eastward to meet the sea at Essam.
Rashamel—A town on the River Rasha.
Reth Stela—A town to the northwest of Hirah, to the south of Rashamel.
Riada, The—A range of hills in the Alagard Desert, once islands in the Gulf of Gardalor.
Rita—A merchant who travelled in Sethan Lattimar’s caravan. Together with her sister Tira, she traded for dyes and mineral powders for use in their brother’s theatrical makeup business in Hirah. She was among those who travelled south with Tarnamell in 1024.
Ruby—Slang term for a man who prefers male lovers.
Rulat steppes—A region to the south of the Plains of Ema, home to tribes of horsemen who joined Halsarr’s hoard in the Dragon Wars. The steppes were devastated by the seismic upheavals following the Fall of Eyr, which transformed them into the mountain region that now forms Tiallat. The central highland plateau of Tiallat is still known as Rulat.
Sapphire—Slang term for a woman who prefers female lovers.
Savattin, The—An obscure religious sect that arose among the rural poor of the Mirul Emirate around 1000. Their beliefs were characterized by restrictive moral guidelines, including severe restrictions on women and contact between the sexes. The Savattin claimed that the suffering of the poor was a result of the moral failings of their rulers, and appointed themselves to punish those who had transgressed their guidelines. Although they were as harsh toward their followers as their enemies, the high-profile attacks they staged against the rich and powerful attracted increasing numbers of devotees among the discontented. They were expelled from the Emirate in 1005, and were granted asylum in Tiallat by the shah. By then a leader, a youth known as the Fist of God, had emerged from their number. They remained quiet for some years, but by 1010 had gathered new supporters from the Tiallatai peasantry. They rose in rebellion against the Shah of Tiallat in 1012, seizing control of the country.
In the absence of Tiallat’s Dual God, who went into hiding in 1012, they soon established a theocracy in Tiallat, reshaping Tiallat’s traditional dualistic and moralistic religion into something far more militaristic. In 1024, the armies of Tiallat, under the leadership of the Fist of God, crossed into the Alagard Desert.
Selar, The—The nomadic tribes of the Alagard Desert. The Selar worship Alagard, who frequently chooses to ride with them.
Sethan Lattimar—A bookseller and caravan master from Hirah. Sethan witnessed the awakening of the nixie prince Seilast, one of the first elementals to reawaken. As a result of this encounter and his subsequent marriage to Cayl Lattimar, of the Prince’s Hearth of Shara, he came to the attention of the Prince of Shara. Sethan attended the Council of Shara in 1023AFE and was entrusted to investigate the threat posed by the Savattin of Tiallat. Sethan was one of those who travelled south with the Dragon King Tarnamell in 1024.
Shadow, The—The most ancient enemy of all that lives and thrives in this world. The Shadow is a spirit lord equal in power to any dragon. Its origins are obscure. It first came to the attention of men and dragons at the start of the Golden Age, when it rose out of the deepest mines to devour and destroy the men of Eyr. Although that is the first record of its existence in human history, it has claimed to be of far greater antiquity, older even than dragons.
Once arisen, it set itself against the dragon lords, unleashing despair and destruction even as it recruited spirits and gods to its side. By the middle of the Golden Age, it had completely possessed the valleys of Eyr and built its stronghold there, where it was attended by demon kings and their enslaved followers. The Shadow and its followers could raise the dead against their foes, and many heroes of the Dragon Wars were brought low by the hungry dead.
After years of war, it finally met the Dragon King Tarnamell in battle on the field of Astalor, where it was defeated and forced into sleep. Sadly, that battle was also the undoing of the dragon lords, who followed their foe into a slumber that lasted a thousand years.
While it wears a mortal body, the Shadow cannot be destroyed, merely dispersed or weakened until it is forced into dormancy. Rumors claim that if it and a great spirit lord were to duel in spirit forms, both could face true annihilation. I have not been able to verify this rumor, as no dragon will speak to me of this matter.
shai-dhakni—A title used by the Daughters of Myrtilis to indicate a sister with equal masteries in scholarship and combat.
Shara—The greatest city-state in the west, less rich perhaps than my beloved Aliann, but more ancient and celebrated in poetry. The city is associated with its patron deity, the Sleeping God, who was believed to protect his people’s dreams. The Prince of Shara was one of the most significant political figures of the years immediately preceding Tarnamell’s reawakening.
Sharnyn—A dragon, and dear friend of the Dragon King Tarnamell.
Silk Road—A trade route which runs to the east. The northern branch passes through the foothills of the Amel Mountains. The southern branch runs from the Emirate of Mirul to the east. They converge at the port of Nolla on the Eastern Ocean where ships from the south unload caravans to join the land route.
Sparkly—Slang for those who prefer lovers of their own gender.
Tal—A chirurgeon in the employ of Sethan Lattimar. He was among those who travelled south with Tarnamell in 1024. Tal spent a year at the medical school at Alswater.
Tarenburg—Town five hundred miles northwest of Hirah.
Tarnamell—Firstborn of the dragons, commonly referred to as their king, although this is more a human than draconic perception. His name derives from the region under his protection, and he is identified in older chronicles simply as the Keeper of the Hoard of Tarn Amel. Tarnamell was the leader of the great alliance of elementals and dragons that fought the Shadow in the Dragon Wars. His earlier history is obscure, but a sharp-eyed scholar may suspect his presence whe
n ancient poetry references Amel, the Great Dragon, or the Golden Mountain. Tarnamell was the first dragon to openly return to the world of men after the beginning of the Reawakening Era. He currently resides in the Alagard Desert, which he has claimed as part of his hoard. In person, he is the most intimidating entity this author has ever met.
Tarramos—A caravanserai and small village on the Silk Road in the foothills of the Amel Range.
Tassaki sept—A division of the Daughters of Myrtilis, centered around their motherhouse at Shara.
Tiallat—Country to the east of the Alagard Desert. After the fall of the Zoraia Empire, Tiallat emerged as an independent nation, under the guidance of the Dual God. The shahs of Tiallat were originally appointed by the Dual God to assist with the administration of the country, but took on more and more of the temporal governance of Tiallat as the Dual God focused on developing justice, poetry, and moral philosophy.
Tiallat is a poor, mountainous region. For much of its history, it has been dependent on trading mulberries and silk to the Emirate of Mirul. In 1005 AFE, displaced Savattin refugees from the Emirate were granted asylum in the northeast of Tiallat. Under Savattin encouragement, the poor farmers of that region rose up against the shah in 1012. After the shah was overthrown, the Savattin installed their own religious leader, known as the Fist of God, and imposed a stark version of their religion upon Tiallat.
Outsiders find Tiallat a baffling culture: its religion, acceptance of misfortune, and obsession with moral action appear austere to many, but the Tiallatai are also hospitable, learned, and passionately devoted to poetry and philosophy. The key to this dichotomy lies within the nature of the Dual God, who sets out many paths to virtue, through both darkness and light.
Timaeus Esthous—A fourteenth-century historian, eventually eaten by a dragon for asking too many annoying questions. [Very funny, my lord.]
Tira—A merchant who travelled in Sethan Lattimar’s caravan. Together with her sister Rita, she traded for dyes and mineral powders for use in their brother’s theatrical makeup business in Hirah. She was among those who travelled south with Tarnamell in 1024.
Ulc-Sarnir—Tarnamell’s sword. Its name means Shadowdrinker. It was forged in his own flames, and he wielded it against the Shadow on the field of Astalor and again in 1024.
Verres—A city in the far west.
Zeki Suheylazad—Zeki grew up in exile with the Selar. He was the son of Suheyla, the Nightingale of Taila, and her poet, Namik Shan. Zeki traveled into Tiallat with the Dragon King Tarnamell. After his father’s death, Zeki studied at the medical school at Alswater and became one the greatest physicians of his age.
Zoraia Empire—The Empire arose out of Aliann and rapidly conquered the lands bordering the Ala Sea. At its peak, in the third to fifth centuries AFE, it controlled lands as far south as the Gasha savannah and the Alagard Desert and as far north as the ruins of Eyr. The Zoraians took the lion as their symbol, and many ruins across the south are decorated with snarling lion heads. The Zoraia Empire fell in 672AFE, as a result of the rebellions in Hirah and Shara and the influx of three successive waves of invasion from the east. By 710, it was reduced to governing Aliann and the current Emirate of Mirul. The Emirs of Mirul still claim the right to call themselves emperors, despite their loss of control over Aliann in the Treaty of Rann in 798.
About the Author
AMY RAE DURRESON teaches in an eccentric boarding school deep in the English countryside. When not teaching, marking or trying to fathom the mysterious logic of the typical teenage brain, she likes to go wandering across the local hills with a camera, hunting for settings for her stories. She has a degree in early English literature, which she blames for her somewhat medieval approach to spelling, and at various times has been fluent in Latin, Old English, Ancient Greek, and Old Icelandic, though these days she mostly uses this knowledge to bore her students when they foolishly ask why English spelling is so confusing. Amy started her first novel nineteen years ago (it featured a warrior princess, magic swords, elves, and an evil maths teacher) and has been scribbling away ever since. Despite these long years of experience, she has yet to master the arcane art of the semicolon.
Amy can be found online at Twitter (@amy_raenbow) or on her blog (http://amyraenbow.wordpress.com).
Also from AMY RAE DURRESON
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Also from AMY RAE DURRESON
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Table of Contents
Title page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
A Map of the Lands Surrounding the Ala Sea
Chapter 1: Awakening
Chapter 2: Mourning
Chapter 3: Helping
Chapter 4: Hiring
Chapter 5: Meeting
Chapter 6: Scheming
Chapter 7: Defending
Chapter 8: Sheltering
Chapter 9: Discovering
Chapter 10: Engaging
Chapter 11: Rousing
Chapter 12: Riding
Chapter 13: Hallowing
Chapter 14: Escaping
Chapter 15: Clashing
Chapter 16: Scouting
Chapter 17: Allying
Chapter 18: Recovering
Chapter 19: Dancing
Chapter 20: Planning
Chapter 21: Leaving
Chapter 22: Roaming
Chapter 23: Resting
Chapter 24: Readying
Chapter 25: Seeking
Chapter 26: Pledging
Chapter 27: Surrendering
Chapter 28: Defending
Chapter 29: Negotiating
Chapter 30: Losing
Chapter 31: Holding
Chapter 32: Loving
A Handbook of Terms for the Student of The Second Dragon Age
About the Author
Also from Amy Rae Durreson
Also from Amy Rae Durreson